Monday, 3 November 2014

Power restored to 99 per cent of domestic customers

Power has been restored to almost 99 per cent of the domestic customers in the three districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.

The three districts plunged into darkness, after cyclone Hudhud made its landfall on October 12, and it took over 9,000 men to restore power in just about 18 days, said AP Energy Secretary Ajay Jain.

In total, there are about 23.73 lakh domestic consumers in the three districts, and power has been restored to about 23.50 lakh. “The remaining 23,000 odd consumers will be connected by Monday,” assured Mr. Jain.

As far as agriculture connections are concerned, 28,000-odd are yet to be connected and according to the Energy Secretary, many of the farmers have requested not to take up work, as paddy is in its harvest stage. “But we shall connect them by November 10,” he said.

Of the 23,000-odd yet to be connected, domestic connections, about 11,469 connections are in S.Kota and Vepada mandals of Vizianagaram. “We have achieved 100 per cent connectivity in Srikakulam and in Visakhapatnam city and we have about 800 connections left. In Visakhapatnam district, power is to be restored to about 4,600 and 5,500 connections in Narsipatnam and Paderu areas,” Mr. Jain told mediapersons. Divulging future plans, he said plans were afoot to procure new machinery for erecting poles. “This machine has the capacity to drill and erect over 200 poles in a day. We plan to have this machine, which cost about Rs. 6 lakh, in all the vulnerable divisions of APEPDCL. This apart we are going ahead with the underground cabling network,” he said. APEPDCL has already got a sanction to the tune of $ 100 million from the World Bank for underground cabling and gas insulated indoor sub-stations. “As a pilot project we shall take up the work in the most vulnerable areas,” said Mr. Jain.

The 400 kv Kalapaka link has been restored to Gajuwaka 132 kv sub-station and the estimated loss to the power sector in the aftermath, is to the tune of Rs. 1,200 crore. So far about Rs. 150 crore has been spent on restoration work.